Pureblood Wars
by infireandice
Summary: Marceline Grendel is a pureblood witch transferring to Hogwarts for her fifth year after the tragedy of the Triwizard Tournament. OC x Draco x Fred x George.


Marceline Grendel stood stubbornly in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor, her dark brown orbs rolled at the grandeur of the room. It was not unlike the house she grew up in, oversized and screaming of wealth. A sneer of disbelief marred her pretty face as she noticed the diamonds encrusted in the window panes.

"Don't scowl," her mother hissed and whacked the girl upside the head so that she unfolded her arms. "What was the point of making you look nice if you're just going to frown."

Marcie fought the urge to stick her tongue out at her mother and won. She huffed instead and pushed her blonde waves over to one shoulder. Her mother had forced her to wear a ridiculously long dress. It was tight across her slim figure, with long see-through sleeves, and a low neckline. It was, in true Grendel style, dark velvet, coloured black and dark green. She felt like she was expected to walk a red-carpet. Not that walking on carpet was particularly easy for Marceline at that moment since her mother slapped black velvet heels in her hand before they apparated. "Honestly, Marceline," her mother had admonished before they left, "You'd think at Beaxbatons you'd be made to wear heels."

"Nope, just lots of blue," she'd retorted.

It had been during her four years at Beaxbatons that her mother, Evangeline Grendel, became close friends with the Malfoys, another pure-blood wizarding family. Marceline had only been back in England for a week before her mother had decided to introduce her 'wonderfully etiquette daughter' to her new friends. Evangeline hadn't counted on the blonde girl returning possibly less-mannered than before.

"Evangeline!" called a woman with unique hair, half white-blonde and half brunette. Marceline's eyes snapped to her as she approached them, smiling warmly and touching the slim blonde on the shoulder, saying, "And this must be your charming daughter." The woman's smile had a motherly feel to it and Marceline smiled back politely. She gave a small curtsey under the hand, which greatly pleased both women. "Oh, Eva! She's delightful," the woman laughed, releasing Marceline to embrace her light-haired friend.

"Narcissus, it's good to see you. Thank you for allowing me and my daughter to visit," said Evangeline, all smiles and manners. As the two mothers embraced, Evangeline sent her daughter a look of relief. Marcie wasn't sure if the look was because she had been polite or because the Malfoy woman liked her.

Narcissus waved at her friend, "Nonsense! It's always a pleasure to see you, Eva. Now, I've been told our dinner will be ready in about ten minutes. The elves in this house are never on time, I'm afraid," she said, a warm smile still in place. "However, my son Draco is already waiting in the dining room. How about we help ourselves to drinks and you two can introduce yourselves?" She addressed the last part to Marceline. It was then that she wondered if the woman even knew her name. Nevertheless, Marcie nodded and followed her mother and the woman through the portrait-laden hallways.

Draco looked up as his mother entered the dining room. She was immediately followed by another woman with cropped blonde hair, wearing a green dress. He recognised her as one of his mother's friends who he met during one of the holidays. Like all of his parents' friends, he'd greeted her respectfully despite finding her excruciatingly dull. When his mother had told him to dress decently for their guests, Draco had expected to meet someone new and interesting. Whenever Draco was home for the holidays, he was usually made to meet his parents' associates. They never introduced him to someone his own age. Christmas was especially lonely since he was an only child and had no proper friends to visit him. As much as he hated to admit, he would look forward to the start of school. This was why Draco felt a tinge of disappointment as the woman walked in. However, his eyes immediately bugged as he regarded the pretty girl who followed after her.

Her almond eyes caught his and he tensed, quickly looking away and preoccupying himself with the goblet of wine in his hand. Marcie wondered why he had reacted so strangely. He'd taken a large swig of something and darted his attention from her as soon as he'd seen her. She couldn't help but wonder if the boy recognised her. But that was impossible because she had never met him before. The woman, Narcissus, gestured towards Marcie and told the boy to come and meet her.

The boy, who had been swirling his drink around, eventually looked up and met her gaze once more. Marcie noticed how impossibly pale he was. His hair was white-blonde and swept above his eyes, which were pale blue, almost grey, and his skin was clear and tan-less.

"Introduce yourself, girl," her mother snapped. Marcie glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes and silently hexed her mother. Trying not to roll her eyes, Marcie walked up to the slender boy, her heels clacking against the wooden boards as she made her way. The boy seemed to grow more nervous every step she neared him. Smiling politely, Marcie gave a slight curtsey like she had in the entryway and said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Marceline Petal Grendel." She forced herself to say her middle name because it was just ridiculous. Her name sent the wrong association with herself as people would imagine her parents to be free-spirited peace-mongers when in reality they were the opposite.

"Draco," the boy replied quickly, "...Lucius Malfoy."

"Draco's starting his fifth year at Hogwarts next month," his mother cut in proudly.

Marceline watched the woman smile at her son lovingly and suddenly wondered if she'd ever seen her own mother look at her that way. Evangeline piped up, "Wonderful! Marceline will also be attending Hogwarts this year. Won't you, dear?"

Marcie near cringed at her mother's use of the endearment. Glancing back to the slim boy, Marcie noticed his eyes looking over her body. She knew this dress was much too tight to be decent. "Yes, it'll be my fifth year as well, in fact," She stated, making the boy jump as he was caught looking her over.

Draco wondered why this girl was getting to him so much. She must be part Veela. Then he registered what the girl had said and, frowning, he asked, "Fifth year? But you're not in Hogwarts."

"No, I went to Beaxbatons. I've recently moved back to England though, and this will technically be my first year at Hogwarts," she shrugged, then remembered that it wasn't a very lady-like gesture and awkwardly stopped halfway.

"Your mother had mentioned that you were schooled at Beaxbatons. It is such a beautiful school. You're taught in a palace, is that right?" asked Narcissus. She moved to stand behind Draco, her hands gently around his shoulders. Although the boy looked embarrassed at the contact, he made no attempt to move away.

"A palace in the mountains, yes. The views are amazing but it is quite difficult to reach if you don't have flying horses," she joked. "I was at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament as well. Although we never met," she said the latter to Draco.

Draco had to wonder why he had never met her before, but then again he hadn't tried approaching the Beaxbatons girls when they'd been around Hogwarts. Despite his egotistical flair in school, his cockiness was pretty much just a cover for his lack of real confidence. He'd gone to the Yule Ball with Pansy Parkinson for Salazar's sake. Pretty pathetic seeing as how she was his friend. If he had any real confidence he would have tried asking one of the pretty Beauxbatons girls. Malfoys were known for their self-preservation though, and Draco would rather not risk being rejected if he could help it.

Narcissus seemed genuinely interested in the girl's schooling as she asked, "Any particular reason, if you don't mind my asking, why you didn't choose to go to Hogwarts from the start?"

"Well the classes were probably the main reason I wanted to go. There was an arts programme at Beaxbatons which Hogwarts doesn't have," said Marcie. "As well as the fact that the school is in France. I'd always wanted to go to France. You know, get away from England and all that." _And then I wanted to get away from my mother_ , thought the girl.

"Oh yes. Well, Draco actually wanted to attend Durmstrang. His father knows the headmaster of the institute as well but I couldn't bear him living so far away. I bet it was tough for you, Eva, with your daughter living in Europe for most of the year."

Evangeline looked uncomfortable with her friend's question. Truthfully, she hadn't made much of an effort with her daughter oversees. "Well, France isn't so far away, really." The woman cleared her throat, "And Marceline preferred to stay in France more often than not. For the holidays, I mean." An awkward quiet descended the room as the difference in family slowly sunk in. Draco chose that moment to lift his goblet to his lips, snapping his mother back into hostess mode.

"Would either of you like a glass of wine?" asked Narcissus, successfully defusing the tension. Pulling a knobbly wand from her long coat pocket, she waved it and summoned more expensive wine goblets.

"Oh, no thank you. I'm, uh, not old enough," Marceline said lamely, eyeing Draco as she did so. Not even in France had they let her drink underage, and for Draco to be openly drinking in front of his mother felt really strange. "Maybe just water, please?"

Narcissus nodded indisputably and muttered, " _Aguamenti_ " before a tattered house elf dressed in dirty rags stumbled into the room, announcing that dinner was ready. The woman of the house grinned and handed Marceline her goblet of water before leading them all to the grand table.

The chairs magically pulled themselves out as the quartet seated themselves, Draco being instructed to sit opposite Marceline. His mother gave the two teenagers a pleased look and started chatting to Evangeline about the latest trivialities in her life. Marceline watched as plates of food magically appeared before her. Silver trays filled with toasted breads, olives, cheeses, cured meats and chutneys. These were the apparent appetisers and extras. The main courses were placed before each of the magicals at the table, rare chateaubriand with dauphinoise potatoes and caramelised onion. Marceline's mouth was watering at the excess of food. She looked up and saw Draco boredly take a stab at his rare steak, looking somewhat between apathetic and displeased.

His eyes caught hers and he quickly stopped playing with his food, choosing instead to further drink from his goblet, hopefully downing his shyness. It aggravated him how he felt around this girl. What he would give to just smirk and flirt with her, like he could the other girls, who would listen to him boast about himself and cling to his every word. True, none of those girls looked anywhere near as hot as this girl. Shit, he'd just admitted to himself that she was hot, hadn't he.

Marceline sliced her perfectly pink steak and savoured the taste in her mouth as she chewed. The food was incredible and Marcie found herself becoming jealous of the Malfoys, who were able to eat this well every day. Marcie herself came from a wealthy family but her parents never cared if she enjoyed her food or not, often eating alone in her room to spite them. People might call her ungrateful but it looked like she wasn't the only one, as Draco pushed his steak around his plate more.

Marceline's ears pricked up as she heard Narcissus say her name and she struggled to grasp what their parents had been discussing. The women turned to the girl with symmetrical smiles on their faces. "You'd like that, right Marceline," said Evangeline, pushing her daughter to say 'yes'.

Instead, Marcie blinked and pushed her blonde waves behind her ear. "Pardon?"

Her mother pursed her lips and clarified, "You'd very much like for Draco to take you to Diagon Alley, so that you can both get your school supplies. Together. Isn't that right?"

Marceline's mother gave her a hardened stare, making it clear that her answer should be yes. Instead of answering straight away, the girl shared a look with the boy himself, hoping that he'd bail her out and tell her mother that he didn't need school supplies, or didn't want to hang out with her. If anything the boy looked pleased at this. He wasn't full on smirking or blushing but he seemed to be anticipating her saying yes. Honestly, the guy was cute. Not quite handsome but he was definitely attractive. Unfortunately, pompous pure-blood mummy's boys didn't do it for Marcie, even if he was shy and quiet. If anything, Marcie found him utterly boring, not making conversation or having any sort of obvious personality.

"I don't want to impose on him, I'm fine going by myself, honestly," she replied, trying to weasel her way out of this situation as polite as she could manage.

"Nonsense!" laughed Narcissus, placing a hand on her son's shoulder. "Draco will be more than happy to take you around. It'll give you both a chance to get to know each other," she said slyly. The mothers exchanged a secret look. Marcie couldn't help but notice and, frowning, she saw that Draco had noticed too. Marcie wasn't sure that she wanted to know what that look implied. It sounded as if they were encouraging their children to date. Marcie couldn't stop the empty feeling that took over her. Her mother seriously didn't want to give her daughter a choice in anything. She wouldn't even be surprised if she was right and that her mother was deciding for her who she'd date.

"You know, Marceline," her mother interrupted before she could get a polite refusal out in time. "It doesn't hurt to make a friend or two before you officially start school."

Narcissa nodded, placing a hand over her mouth as she swallowed her gracefully chewed food, then spoke. "Very wise, Eva. I almost forgot! You and your darling daughter are invited to our Summer ball. It's a little late this year but it is still Summer, nonetheless," she smiled warmly, eyes twinkling excitedly. She eyed the two teens and added, "Draco, you and Marceline could go to _Twilfitt and Tatting's_ in Diagon Alley and buy dress robes for the ball."

Great, thought Marcie. Another excuse to wear dress robes. She tried not to sulk. She missed being able to wear jeans and a top, however inappropriately muggle and however unladylike they were, they were comfortable and she didn't feel like she was constantly on show. A ball meant dancing, as well. Not the fun kind of dancing where you throw your hands around and have fun, no. Pure-blood balls were excruciatingly old-fashioned, like something from an 18th Century muggle fiction, with dancing partners and wizard waltzes.

"An excellent idea, Cissy. And you two could be each other's escorts!" said Evangeline.

Draco caught himself staring at the girl's tiny freckle on the right hand corner of her upper lip. It made her look uniquely pretty. It was probably because he was already staring at the girl that he caught the flicker of discomfort and frustration over her face at her mother's words. But just as quick as it had appeared it vanished. Marceline turned back to her food, finishing off her meal and forcing a content expression as she listened to the two women discuss the upcoming ball. Draco noticed how the girl didn't look his way again.

* * *

Marceline stood waiting in Diagon Alley for her 'escort' to arrive. Her mother had to practically force her to throw her floo powder and leave, giving her one last steely look and telling her to mind her manners. So there she stood, on time, her 3/4 length sleeves crossed in impatience as she looked around for the distinguishable bleached blonde head. Her mother had once recited that 'pure-bloods are never late but arrive exactly on time'. Marcie guessed that it was subjective to the pure-blood.

She heard the fiery roar that indicated that someone had arrived through the floo network. Turning, Marcie saw two red-headed women in muggle clothing emerge from the green flames, a mother and daughter by the looks. Seeing that it was not her 'date' in question, she sighed and turned her back. A second later there was a loud 'pop' that sounded from directly in front of her, and the shock of having two tall figures a centimetre away made Marcie shriek and fall backwards, ungracefully tripping over her heeled ankle boots and hurling through the air.

Before she could land hard on her behind, two long arms grabbed her and righted her. "Woah!" Laughed one of the men that saved her, looking down at her petite frame. "What have I told you about sweeping girls off their feet, George?"

The other man laughed with him, "Can't help it if the girl's falling for me, Fred."

Marceline stepped out of their grip and gaped at the two identical faces before her. Their hair was bright red and their strong features were smoothed out by their matching grins. They were both wearing identical muggle outfits. She must have been staring mouth agape for a second too long because the second man sent her a sly wink. Blushing furiously, she looked down and wiped off imaginary dust from her dark emerald knee-length dress robes before taking up her previous cross-armed stance. "Who said I was falling for _you_?" she said cheekily, trying to continue their amusing banter. "Looked to me like you couldn't wait to _pick me up_."

The two men shared an amused look, a look they no doubt shared often, challenging the other to out-do the girl. As the twins' green eyes re-met Marceline's mischievous brown gaze they feigned seriousness.

"Do I know you?" started the first twin, "Cause you look like my next girlfriend."

"Are you lost?" his twin fired back, "Because heaven is a long way from here."

Marcie bit her bottom lip to keep from grinning at the complete cheesiness when the first twin gasped dramatically, "Did the sun come out, or did you just smile?" which started a fit of giggles.

The red-headed twins looked pleased with themselves as she laughed. Marcie shook her head, still laughing, "Man, those are some _seriously corny_ lines. I'm impressed."

Smirking, the first twin carried on, "How much does a polar bear weigh?" Marcie sent him a wary glare but it was ridiculously feigned as she was still smiling and asked, 'How much?' The boy raised his eyebrows and answered, "Enough to break the ice. Hi, I'm Fred by the way." He extended his hand to her which she took instantly.

"Hi, I'm Marceline," she giggled. "Thanks for bumping into me."

"Anytime," Fred smirked. They dropped hands and Fred's twin extended his own.

"I'm George, nice to meet you, Marceline."

She shook his hand but pulled a face, "Please just call me Marcie."

He nodded and joked, "Marcie. So I've got your name, now I just need your number. Hey!" He put his hands up in defence as Marcie scrunched up her face and lightly punched his arm. "Alright, I'll stop!"

"Boys, are you bothering this poor girl?" came another voice from behind her. She turned and spotted the two red-headed women from the floo entrance. They both approached as if they had been watching the whole encounter. The woman smiled warmly at the two boys and then greeted Marcie. "I hope they weren't too infuriating, dear. I'm Molly Weasley, their poor mother." She wore frumpy patterned dress robes and a large muggle cardigan but she looked like the most kindly woman Marcie had ever seen.

Feeling embarrassed, Marcie remembered her manners. "Oh no! Not at all," She extended her hand to the woman, "Nice to meet you, ma'am. I'm Marceline Grendel." As they shook hands, a look of recognition fluttered across Mrs Weasley's face before her pleasant demeanour returned.

"Hi, I'm Ginny," said the pretty girl next to her mother. She looked to be Marcie's age if not younger. "It looked like you were getting on well with my brothers." The twinkle in her eye as she said that implied quite a lot.

As Marcie gaped and fumbled for a reply that was more than "Uh...", George - or was it Fred? - cut in, "Well we're likeable guys, sis," and flung an arm around Marcie's shoulder.

"Irresistible," came another reply, as the other twin did the same.

Feeling incredibly tiny and awkward under the two boys' weight, she shuffled away and finally said, "Uh, they're alright," just as the sound of someone arriving by floo roared. Remembering why she was there, Marcie looked behind Ginny and recognised the bright blonde head of Draco Malfoy. She sucked in a breath as she took in his darkening features when he spotted the five of them standing together. It must have looked awful, she realised, a pure-blood surrounded by a muggle-dressed family - not that she cared if they were. In the pure-blood world, it was as bad as hanging around muggles themselves. Her mother would freak out.

Trying her best to subtly pull out of the twins' embrace, she watched Draco approach. He addressed her with a scowl, "Mingling with the Weasles are you, Marceline?"

Sending Mrs Weasley an apologetic look she then snapped to Draco, "You're late." The finality in her voice was meant to get the boy to stop his high and mighty approach, but it seemingly spurred him on as his scowl deepened.

"And you're coming with me," he snapped, stepping between the family just to yank on her arm. It made her mood deflate, just how easily the twins dropped their arms and let her be pulled away. She didn't fight Draco, what was the point? Instead she looked back to the family, seeing them watching her go. Just before she disappeared she sent the twins a small smile and gave them a wave. She was pleased to see them wave back.

Draco stomped with her through a crowd of wizarding folk and dragged her harshly down an alleyway. Marcie recognised the route as going towards _Twilfitt and Tatting's,_ and other equally high-class shops. Growing tired of his brutish attitude, Marcie ground her feet and yanked her arm out of his grip. It had started to hurt anyway. She rubbed her arm absent-mindedly and glared childishly at the floor. "You didn't have to drag me," she mumbled. Draco rounded on her, giving her a hard glare before he could stop himself.

Seeing her glance at him and then look down at the floor made him sigh heavily. He tried to calm himself down by his next words, "You should have just made them leave you alone. They try and befriend everyone. Pathetic, really, that family." Marcie could hear the contempt in his voice.

Her voice was defensive, "They were nice, actually." Then she grumbled, "Before you dragged me off like a dog."

Draco inhaled roughly and rubbed his face with the heel of his palm. He looked extremely irritated but when he looked at her next he was sad. "Look, I'm sorry for dragging you, alright? I just - you shouldn't be seen with them."

As much as the comment angered her, Marceline was used to this. She knew what would anger her mother and what was expected of her, just by being who she was. The only problem was that 'who she was' wasn't what was expected of her. Swallowing what she felt, like always, she rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Whatever," and Draco took it as a sort of apology in return.

He nodded, turning to continue on but at the last second he slipped his hand in hers and gently tugged Marcie along with him. She frowned but played along, walking beside him with her hand in his. That was how they entered _Twilfitt and Tatting's,_ Draco holding the door open for them both.

They both looked up as a brightly dressed woman gushed over Draco. "Mr. Malfoy! Always a pleasure to see you -"

"Mr. Malfoy is my father," he interrupted sourly. "We're here to get some dress robes for my mother's annual Summer ball. I suspect Miss Grendel would like some school robes fitted as well."

The woman looked over Marceline in shock, but then beamed brightly, "Miss _Grendel_ is it? Ah yes, I know your mother. She mentioned that you were a very becoming young lady. I'm happy to say that she was absolutely right!"

Marcie frowned. A very becoming young lady? What other praises had her mother been singing all around town, about her darling Beaxbatons daughter? All said to enhance her own name, no doubt. No wonder her mother was tired of her unladylike ways, she was making it impossible to live up to her own talk. The woman took notice of how Marcie and Draco were still holding hands, so Marcie dropped it like it was a stinging jinx and smiled stiffly, "Thank you. Your shop is lovely." The woman simply bridled and bustled around, showing the pair her finest designs before ushering them into separate fitting rooms to be measured.

An hour or so later, the pair emerged with promise that their purchases would be owled within the week.

"What next?" asked Draco. He was seemingly bored already, having been poked and prodded for half an hour, then sat waiting for the other half an hour for the fitters to finish with Marceline. He had chosen to go with the 'usual' styles, whereas Marceline had to be talked through all the different ways to wear dress robes, and then all the different colours and accessories. The words 'whatever is fine' were never said as much. She looked to her 'escort' and mentioned that she still needed books for her fifth year and an animal, considering she hadn't needed one at Beaxbatons with its large menagerie.

The pair went to the pet shop first, and discussed what sort of pets were chosen at Hogwarts. And so Marcie was left deciding between an owl and a cat, she'd always loved cats but an owl would be practical. In the end her heart won over her head, and she picked out a black and white tabby and named it Margot, after her best friend at Beaxbatons. Marcie picked up Margot, the cat just placing its paw on her head and letting out a small cry. Giggling, Marcie moved the paw from her head and kissed the cat's soft fur, before apologising to her and locking her in a carry cage.

The next stop was the bookshop, where all nine textbooks greeted Marcie in a corner labelled helpfully 'Fifth Year Students: Hogwarts', as well as other helpful but non-compulsory books like 'Preparing for O.W.L.s'. It was when the pair were about to pay that something caught Marcie's eye. It was a newspaper, The Daily Prophet, with a moving photo of a dark haired boy with glasses. The headline was "The Boy Who Lies" and was directly about a certain famous wizard named Harry Potter. Marceline recognised him instantly, as the boy her age who was entered in the Tri Wizard Tournament. It seemed that he'd been 'lying' about the return of He Who Must Not Be Named and the death of the student Cedric Diggory. Marceline remembered the uproar after Harry and Cedric port-keyed into the arena, the applause turning into screams.

From beside her, Draco huffed. "Potter," he sneered, the name tasting bad on his tongue. "I'm surprised the Ministry's still letting him walk around free." Despite his words, Draco picked up a paper and tossed it atop their pile of books. Marcie frowned; Harry Potter was the boy who had saved Gabrielle Delacour during the Tournament. She'd started to think of him as some kind of hero, not a criminal or a terrorist. "My father will most likely enjoy reading this," Draco elaborated and asked the cashier to once again arrange delivery.

With their shopping date completed, Draco awkwardly bid Marceline goodbye and flooed back to his mansion, leaving the girl once more to herself. Despite herself, she'd eyed up and down the streets on their way back to the floo fireplaces in search for red hair. Even alone, she lingered a few minutes longer than needed in case she met the friendly family again. Eventually she threw down her powder and appeared in her mother's home, the woman in question skating into the room at the sound of roaring flames. Hurriedly taking in her daughters' dejected expression, Eva hastened to ask, "How did it go? Were you charming? Does he like you?" Eva followed her daughter as the blonde girl headed toward the staircase.

Marceline mumbled, "A simple 'hello' would suffice," as she avoided her mother and trotted to her bedroom, shutting her out. The girl sighed and rolled her large brown eyes as she mulled over the questions. How did it go? He'd been sweet and mostly patient with her, she realised; he'd dressed smartly and smelled nice; he was late and rude to a nice family. All in all it went surprisingly well, despite Draco's brashness. Were you charming? Not at all. Does he like you?

Marcie threw herself onto her bed to find a rose and an invitation left on the pillows. Marcie floated the rose into an already full vase of flowers and ripped into the envelope. It read: _From Master Malfoy_ and was her invitation to the Malfoy Summer ball. She hadn't realised she'd started smiling.


End file.
